Grant Eligibility Checker

Answer three questions to see which federal grant categories match your organization type and find programs you may be eligible for. Data from SAM.gov and Grants.gov, covering federal grant programs and opportunities across all 50 states; see our methodology.

What this does

Answer three questions about your organization type, funding area, and target range; the checker returns the matching grant categories and links you straight to their program listings.

3 questions
org type, area, funding range
Category matches
from SAM.gov Assistance Listings
Direct links
to matching program listings
1. What type of organization are you?
2. What area do you need funding for?
3. What is your target funding range?

Federal Grant Eligibility by Organization Type

The table below shows which organization types each major grant category is open to, based on SAM.gov Assistance Listings data.

Category Nonprofit Education Government Small Business Individual
Education✓✓✓✗✓
Health✓✓✓✓✗
Science & Research✓✓✓✓✓
Agriculture✓✓✓✓✗
Housing✓✗✓✗✓
Environment✓✓✓✓✗
Transportation✗✗✓✗✗
Business Development✗✗✓✓✗
Arts & Culture✓✓✓✗✓

Source: SAM.gov Assistance Listings. Check marks indicate that at least some programs in the category accept that organization type. Individual program eligibility varies.

Before you apply

A category match is a starting point, confirm the specific program before you invest time in an application.

  • Category-level matches are not a guarantee, individual programs within a category can set narrower eligibility rules. Browse all programs
  • Run the full eligibility finder for a program-by-program match instead of just a category. Full eligibility finder
  • New to federal grants? Read the eligibility basics before you start an application. Eligibility guide

Always verify current requirements directly on Grants.gov or SAM.gov before applying.

Every figure on PlainGrants is rendered directly from SAM.gov Assistance Listings data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on SAM.gov Assistance Listings data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data issue on this page.